After the Cohabition
by thehazardsof-love
Summary: After losing one another, can Willow and Kennedy manage to reconnect?
1. Kennedy\'s Happiness

Kennedy sat on the living room floor in her apartment, cross-legged, munching on a pretzel, when she heard the knock at the door. She stood up, her eyes never leaving the television until she had walked completely passed it. She walked to the door and opened it. There in the hallway she stood.

"Willow."

* * *

Kennedy and Willow lay in bed, sleeping. Both sprawled out all over the place, sheets haphazardly laying atop them. Kennedy opened her eyes slowly, trying to adjust to the newly risen sun that peered through the window.

She turned her head to read the alarmclock that occupied her night stand.

"Shit...," she spat, silently. "Will, get up baby. You're gonna be late." Willow stirred at the sound of her lovers voice, but did not wake. Kennedy pulled herself up to rest on her elbows. "Baby, come on. If you don't get up you won't be able to make your meeting with that Abel man."

Willow rolled onto her back and slowly opened her eyes. "What time's it?" She muttered.

"Like, almost nine. You said you had to meet him at what, 9:30?"

Willow got up, pulling one of the blankets around her. "Crap." She headed for the bathroom dragging her feet; Kennedy watched as she waddled sleepily. She grinned at the crazy red head.

They had been in Sao Paolo for almost nine months and somewhere during that time Kennedy had managed to fall madly in love with that somewhat eccentric woman. Kennedy finally found someone she was considering spending the rest of her life with. The way things were was the way she wanted them. Slaying, spending time with the woman she loved. Kennedy was completely content. Completely...happy.

* * *

Willow entered her and Kennedy's apartment to find Kennedy sitting on the coffee table, an envelope in her hands and a suitcase by her side.

Willow looked at her girlfriend, confused. "What's with the suitcase," she asked.

Kennedy said nothing, she simply handed Willow the envelope. Willow looked at it, then at Kennedy, who didn't look up from the floor. Willow didn't need to open; she already had the day before.

"Were you even gonna tell me? Did you even want me to know?" Kennedy asked, gaze still fixated on the carpet.

"Kennedy, I..."

Kennedy looked up into Willow's eyes, her own filled with tears. "I think you should. It's a great opportunity for you."

"Kennedy..."

"I packed for you." She stood up and moved the suitcase beside Willow. "That's everything."

"Stop," Willow commanded. She, too, was beginning to choke up. "I never said I wanted to go do this."

"You hid the invite from me. That kinda answers for you. It'll help you, Will. Help with your power. Help the world."

"Don't. I hid it because I didn't want you to overreact. Like this." She motioned to the suitcase.

"I'm not overreacting," she stated, calmly. "This is right for you, Will. This trip to Himalayas with help you. It'll be fun. And hey, maybe for me too. I mean, it'll be good to be alone for awhile." She lowered her head, trying not to cry. "Just go, please."

"Kennedy..." Willow tried to bring her hand to Kennedy's cheek, but Kennedy moved back.

"Go," she said coldly.

Willow, almost crying, sighed, picked up her suitcase, and headed for the door.

The door closed and Kennedy backed up into the coffee table, sitting. She brought her hands to her face and sobbed. Outside the door, Willow stood, touching the door, as if in the action she was touching Kennedy. She sucked up her tears and turned, walking the first steps of the next phase in her life.

* * *

AN: Confused? ...Good, I like you that way. I'm having writers block as far as "Baby Girl" is concerned, but I wanted to write, so now you have this. I know what your thinking, "there she goes again, breaking them up". No, I don't intend this fic to be about that; I want it to be about reconnecting. "Breakup" was a version of them well, breaking up. This is a version about them reconnecting after losing each other. Not sure if there is going to be a "big bad" plot. Do you want one throw in? Yay? Nay? 


	2. Reunification

"What are you doing here?" Kennedy asked, surprise evident in her face.

"I um...was here and I knew you lived here now so...Can I come in?" She gave Kennedy a kind of awkward smile.

"Yes, of course, please." She moved to the side to let Willow in. Then, closed the door. "So how long have you been in the city?"

Willow turned away from looking around at Kennedy's apartment. "Not long. I was in Cleveland helping Buffy and Dawn move. Dawnie's graduated from college and they wanted to move back to Italy. We all went to see off. It was a thing."

"That's great. Things must be going real well than, huh?"

"Yeah, they are. Are you doing, you know, okay?" Willow looked at her, hoping desperately that her Slayer had been doing fine. It had been a year and half since the two woman had spoken to one another. A year and half since that night in Cleveland...

* * *

Willow sat the box down on her best friend's new living room floor. "Xander, I think it's great. Moving here will be good for you."

Xander came in and he too laid his boxes down. "Yeah, I hope. It's a change."

"Well, change isn't always bad."

"I hope not," he replied through a sigh.

"Plus, it's not like it's the biggest change you've faced over the last couple of years." Just then Dawn came in, a baby boy in her arms.

"Xander, does he always make that noise?" Dawn asked the boy's father.

"That's his hungry coo. Here, give him here." Dawn handed him the baby. "It's okay, daddy's got you. Will, did you put the formula in the fridge?"

"Yeah." Xander headed for the kitchen. "So, Dawnie, I never did ask. How went your finals?" She asked as she headed back out to the truck to get more stuff.

"I did good. I got B's on like all of them. Buffy hugged me and hung them on the refrigerator." She picked up another box.

"Aw, she's just being mothery. She hates the fact that you're growing up."

"Well, I can't exactly stop it."

"No, you really can't."

"So, um...how are you?" Willow looked at her as if confused. "I mean with the whole being single thing. Has she called since you, you know...left."

Willow became sad, but answered. "I'm okay. When I was in the astral plane it was like nothing mattered. Like I was free from all pain and sorrow. It was nice. But then...I came back and she wasn't there. I realized she wasn't waiting for me." Willow lowered her head.

"I'm sorry, Will. How long has it been?"

"Like eleven months since I last saw her."

"Is she showing up for the orientation tomorrow?"

"I'm not even sure if she knows about the Slayer school. I mean, I guess she knew it was always an option. Finding and bringing Slayers together was our whole reason for being in Sao Paulo, but...I don't know."

"Are you hoping she'll come?"

Willow sighed. "I don't know."

* * *

That night after Dawn and Willow had Xander and his son settled in they and Buffy went out to eat.

"Too bad Xander and the baby couldn't come," Dawn said, downing another fry.

"Well, Dawnie, he has a baby now." Willow thought about what she just said. "That's still weird."

"Yeah, it is," Buffy agreed. "I still look at all of us like we're sixteen. I can't really quite wrap my mind around the idea of him having a child."

"What happened to the boy's mother again?" Dawn asked.

"She died or something. Xander's kinda been avoiding the subject," Willow replied.

"I'm just...He just showed up one day with a baby. How does that happen? I mean, I know how that can happen, but...do you think it's really his?"

"Dawnie, maybe you should stop thinking about this so hard. All that's important is that Mikhail's his responsibility now and I think Xander can handle it," Buffy said.

"There definitely isn't a better person for the job," Willow stated.

"Definitely not," the other two agreed.

Just then, Faith slipped into the booth beside Dawn. "What's up?" She greeted.

"Hey, Faith," they greeted back.

"How is everyone?"

"We're good," Buffy answered. "What are you so pumped about?"

"I think tomorrow she's hoping to do a little "reconnecting" with a former Sunnydale High principal," Dawn said.

"Oh, that's right, Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome is coming to the opening tomorrow," Buffy said.

"Ooh..." Willow mocked.

"Okay, I've had enough of this abuse. Where's the Xandman and his half-pint?"

"They stayed back at their new place. The baby was tired."

"I think it was more the Xander was tired," Willow said. They all smiled.

"Yeah, probably," Buffy said. "And speaking of tired, Dawnie we should get home. You have classes tomorrow."

"Yes, mother." Buffy glared at her sister and got up.

"You are such a pain in my ass." She put their portion of the bill on the table. "Okay, Faith, Will, I'll see you tomorrow."

"Bye, Buff," Faith and Willow said.

"Bye, guys," Dawn said.

"Bye."

When they were gone Willow finished her meal and was about to leave too, but Faith stopped her.

"Hey, Red, can we talk for a second?"

Willow got serious. "Of course, is there something wrong?"

"No, no. Nothing. ...Well, maybe. I sort of did something."

"Did something like what?...Oh, god, you didn't kill anyone, did you?" Faith glared at her. "What, fair question."

"Yeah, you're right, but no I didn't wack anyone. It's about tomorrow. ...About attendants of tomorrow." Willow gave her a "yeah" look and she continued. "About a certain Slayer that you used to be with."

Willow looked at her, trying to comprehend what she was saying. Then, it sunk in. "You invited her?"

"Yes. I just thought that...She was one of those first potentials to show up apparently. She was one of the best fighters and the two of you found a lot of Slayers together. I just thought that..."

"It's okay, Faith. You can stop. You're right, she deserves to be here. She's more than earned it." Willow looked down, sadly. "Do you know when she's coming?"

"She's already here."

Willow head jerked up instantly. "What!"

"She's staying at that hotel over on Fourth. Room 25."

Willow got up and walked out the exit.

* * *

Kennedy was still ringing out her freshly washed hair when she heard the knock at the door.

'Faith,' she thought.

"Hold on a sec," she called to the visitor. She walked out of the bathroom and into the room. She opened the door and was shocked to see the person standing on the other side of the door was Willow. Kennedy's plan for the next day was going to be to avoid her. This was definitely not expected.

"Why are you here?" Kennedy asked.

"I wanted to see you. Faith said you were here."

"Damn it, Faith."

"Were you gonna hide it from me?" She asked, irritated and walked pass Kennedy into the room.

"I was gonna try."

"Why?"

"Why? Are you kidding?"

"Damn it, Kennedy!"

Kennedy was shocked by the level of anger in Willow's voice. "Don't raise your voice."

"I can do what I want," she said, loudly.

"Fine, say whatever the fuck you want. I don't care!" Her voice was loud now too.

"God! You are so freakin' stubborn," Willow shouted.

"I'm stubborn!"

"Yes, and stop shouting!" Willow commanded, shouting.

"Fine!"

"Fine!" Willow shouted back. Then, she walked over to Kennedy and kissed her. The kiss was passionate and full of fire. She pulled away moments later. "Crap."

"Damn it, Willow. What do you want from me?" She wasn't screaming anymore. "What do you want?" It was a plea.

"I want you." Kennedy looked into her eyes for a minute and then leaned in and kissed her. They moved backwards onto the bed.


	3. In Need of Reprieve

"I'm doing fine, Will."

She was. It had been awhile since their sexual encounter eighteen months ago. Sure, before that point in time she was a mess, but after that night with her Willow, more like the conversation with Faith the next morning, she felt happy again. Happy at the fact that she got to be with her again.

"That's good." They stood there uncomfortably for a minute.

"You wanna sit?" Kennedy asked.

"Yes, thank you." Willow went to the sofa and sat down. After Kennedy flipped off the television she joined her.

"So...what have you been up to?" Kennedy asked, trying desperately to break the silence. "Other than moving Buffy and Dawn."

"I've um...been working on my powers a lot. ...spending time with Xander and his baby."

"Yeah, I met um...Mikhail, was it?...at the Slayer school. He was cute. He had his father's ears."

"Yeah, he's a little Xander alright."

"How old's he now?"

"A little over one and a half. He can walk now and...," she laughed, "...he does this thing with his cheeks when he's..." She trailed off when she realized Kennedy was staring at her, smiling. "What?"

She looked away. "Nothing. It's just...," she looked back up, "...you have the cutest little smile." They looked at each other, silently taking in the feeling of familiarity in the looks.

"Kennedy, I have to tell you something."

"Yeah." They didn't break eye contact.

"I have a girlfriend."

* * *

Before the sun even rose to the horizon, Kennedy was up and out of her hotel room; she payed the bill and was gone. She knew if she was there when Willow woke up all hell would break loose. All hell being all of the feelings and emotions Kennedy felt. It had taken her a long time to get back some semblance of her life. She knew if she stayed, her and Willow would hurt each other again. She couldn't go though that. ...so she left. 

She headed straight for the person that she believed had been the cause of the previous nights occurrence...Faith. Her car pulled up in front of Faith's apartment building and she jetted out of the car.

As she approached the door to Faith's apartment, she was even more fired up than she had been not 10 minutes ago. She banged on the door, not caring who she woke. It only took a couple of pounds for Faith to open.

"What the fuck is...Brat, what are you doing?"

"How could you tell Willow I was here? I thought I told you not to open that up." She entered and instantly started pacing.

"No, you didn't tell me anything like that. When we were talking about Red you just blew me off and got pissy."

"So what should that have told you?" Faith shrugged. "Are you fucking stupid or is it you just don't care?"

"A little bit of both actually."

"This isn't funny, Faith." She glared at her.

"I don't understand why you're freaking out so much. What happened?"

Kennedy sighed and looked at Faith, worried. "We slept together."

Faith eyes went wide. "What?"

"We slept together." Kennedy's tone was calmer than it had been the entire conversation. She looked at Faith's shocked expression and sighed. "We slept together." Kennedy, overtaken by confusion and sadness, backed up onto the coffee table. "We slept together." She covered her face with her hands as the tears began to roll down her cheeks. Through sobs, "We slept together." Faith walked over to her friend and wrapped her arms around her.


	4. Belle

"What?" Kennedy asked.

"I have a girlfriend," Willow replied. Kennedy just sat there staring at her as if she was speaking another language. "Say something."

"Is that what you came to tell me, that you have a girlfriend?"

"No, of course not. I came to see you. To...to see how you are."

Kennedy scoffed and stood, beginning to pace. "So, why would you even bother telling me?"

"Because...I can't have you looking at me the way you do, making me feel the way you do. I'm gonna be in Cleveland for a while and I can't do that." Kennedy scoffed again. "I just needed to see you. I guess I needed closure. You just left before. I..."

"_I_ just left before? What about you? You walked out. You went off and did your little magic experiment. We had a life together. A life I was very happy in...and I thought you were too. ...I guess not."

"That's not fair, Kennedy. You told me to go."

"Yes, because I really wanted you to," Kennedy was getting more and more agitated and upset by the minute.

"Fine," she stood, "you know what? This was a very bad idea. I should never have come here. I should have known you would still be as stubborn as ever. I don't know why I bothered."

"Yeah, I don't know why you did either."

Willow rolled her eyes at the woman and scoffed. "Fine, I'm leaving."

"Fine," Kennedy spat sharply. Willow just rolled her eyes and left. Kennedy picked up the candle that was sitting on the end table and threw it at the door. "Damn it!"

* * *

Kennedy stopped crying and Faith pulled away. 

"I'm sorry," she said to Faith.

"No, it's cool. I know how much Red means you. Are you gonna be okay?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just need to get my head straight. I need...I don't know."

"Maybe you need Red."

"No, definitely not. It's becoming more and more apparent that she is exactly what I do not need." She wiped the rest of her tears off with her sleeve.

"Okay...so, what are you gonna do?"

"I don't know. I've been living back at my parent's New York summer house. I just...I don't wanna go back there. There's nothing to do." She chuckled, slightly.

"How about you stay here?" Kennedy looked at her. "I don't think Red's staying, Brat. I think she said she was just here to get everything in place then she was headed back to where ever the hell she's headed back to."

"Probably back down to Phoenix to see her parents. She visits them around this time of the year." Faith looked at her weird. "What, we were together for over a year. I know these things."

"Okay, cool. So, you can just lay low until she clears. I'll cover for you. ...Just don't cry again."

Kennedy glared at her. "I'm not ever gonna live that down, am I?"

"Not with me in your life." Kennedy rolled her eyes.

* * *

Willow sat alone at a table in the café, holding tightly to her coffee cup. She was thinking about what she always thought about... her Slayer. She missed her. They had been apart now for about four months and Willow missed her more and more everyday. She felt as if Kennedy was the last person who she would ever be with. 

She had just finished her brief stint in the Himalayas about three weeks ago and now here she was in this little area in Ontario, Canada. It wasn't very large...in fact Sunnydale would have been a bustling metropolis compared to it, but for right now it was home. All she could think about when she moved from place to place was how she had told Oz that time in his van that night that she could never live like he did, from place to place. She laughed.

Then, realizing the laugh had been out loud, she looked around to see if anyone noticed. She looked to both sides of her and neither the young couple or the lonely old man appeared to have noticed. She was about sigh in relief when she looked forward and saw a beautiful blonde woman smiling at her.

'Oh, no,' Willow thought. 'She's coming over here.'

"Laughing at yourself?" The blonde woman asked.

Willow blushed. "No, I um...I was just thinking and the thought was ironic and irony's kinda funny sometimes. You know?" She smiled, awkwardly.

The woman laughed. "You're right. It is." There was a pause.

"Hi," Willow said.

"Hi...do you mind if I join you?"

"No, no. Please, do." She motioned to the chair.

"I'm Belle."

"Willow." She outstretched her hand and Belle took it.

"Nice to meet you, Willow."

"You too. So...do you come here a lot?"

"Everyday. My father owns it. See." She pointed to the older man standing behind the counter. "That's him."

"That must be nice. Getting to see your dad everyday, I mean." She took a sip of her coffee.

"It is. After my mom died my dad really didn't come out of the house a lot. So, it's nice that he's back out again."

"How did you um...mom die?" Willow asked.

"Leukemia. She was diagnosed when I was a kid. She fought it all the way. What about you? Are you and your parents close?"

"Not so much. My mom and dad have also kinda been off doing something with there jobs. It's fine though. I was always taken care of."

"Where do they live now?"

"In Phoenix by my aunt. I visit every year around the middle of the year."

"That's cool. So, when did you move here?"

"A couple of weeks ago. I was in the Himalayas...and Sao Paulo before that." She became noticeably sad.

"Something bad in Brazil?" She asked.

"Girlfriend of the ex variety."

"I'm sorry. I know how that is. My girlfriend and I split up like a month ago. We weren't that close, but it's still sad.

Willow double-took. "You had a girlfriend?"

* * *

Willow walked into her hotel and instantly walked to the phone. 

'God,' she thought. 'Why does she have to be so damn difficult?'

She picked up the phone and dialed. "Hey, baby, it's me. Just calling to check in."

* * *

AN: I went back and did something that may help those of you that were lost. This story takes place in one time and there are kinda like flashbacks. I always start the chapters with the "present" time part then move to whatever memory I need conveyed at that point in time. So, on to how I fixed things to help...I put two lines between when I switch into different time periods and one line to signify a change in scene or a time lapse in one of the flashbacks. Hopefully, this author's note clarified some things for you. I wonder if you're all thinking, "Why in the world doesn't she just keep it simply?" laughs menacingly That wouldn't be fun...for me mostly. (The parts about the two lines doesn't apply here. Sorry, it's for readers at the other site I post at. ...but I still need it formatted so...) 


End file.
